In computer networks, a plurality of network stations are interconnected via a communications medium. For example, Ethernet is a commonly used local area network scheme in which multiple stations are connected to a single shared serial path. These stations often communicate with a switch located between the shared data path and the stations connected to that path. Typically, the switch controls the communication of data packets on the network. The network switch passes data frames received from a transmitting station to a destination station based on the header information in the received data frame, including source address and destination address.
One arrangement for generating a frame forwarding decision uses a direct addressing scheme, where the network switch includes a fixed address table storing switching logic for the destination addresses. Such arrangements, with fixed address tables, make additions to the network difficult to implement. In addition, such arrangements often cannot delete a station from the address table when the station is quiet, i.e., not transmitting data for a given period of time.